Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Buses, Boats, and My Two Feet

I finished spanish classes in Cusco Dec. 3rd and set off for the road - the official test of how much spanish I've been able to pick up. Considering I am now able to understand when the guy says, "To catch the return boat, you need to go to a different port than the one where we drop you off. It is on the other side of the island. Just ask for directions.", I would call my spanish classes a success.

I left Cusco at 6 am (well actually, I got on a bus at 6 am that pulled out of the parking lot at 6:30, did a lap around the main obelisk in town and promptly returned to the station for another hour before it was full enough to proceed to Arequipa). I met an old camp friend, Plettner, in Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. From there we've been off on some fine adventures, including Colca Canyon (nearly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in it's deepest spot), Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca, an island made entirely of reeds, Taquile Island, and then back to Cusco. We're meeting yet another camp friend here on Friday and we all start trekking (via Salkantay for those of you who know anything about trekking in Peru) to Machu Picchu on Sunday. Observations and amusing happenings below (along with pictures).

It is basically summer down here since it's the southern hemisphere. This also means the rainy season, but still it includes warmer temperatures. The Peruvian response to 75 degree days is the sweater vest with a wool coat on top. I would love to see what these people where during their winter season...

That said, it was actually cold at night in Cabanaconde, the small village perched on the edge of Colca Canyon where we stayed. Our hostel roof was literally a tarp (hey, you can't beat 12 soles/night including breakfast - $4), so we were concerned with being cold in the night. As a result we each had close to 8 wool blankets on our beds. Luckily, this was plenty sufficient, but it did feel as if we slept with a 20 pound weight on top of us.

Also, if you are looking for an authentic Navidad experience, might I recommend Cabanaconde. Regardless of where you sleep in town, you will certainly wake up feeling lik Mary and Joseph in a barnyard. It seems perfectly normal for people to keep herds of sheep and chickens in their courtyards, ensuring that everyone in town can hear them at 3, 4, 5, and 6 am.

There are multiple caminos (paths) down the 3,900 feet to the floor of the canyon (this is not it's deepest point, just the point where we were based out of). However, for each "camino" there seem to be two routes - the local and the express. Of course the "local" is for gringos and the "express" is for the locals. The local obviously has switchbacks, whereas the express seems to go straight down (and straight back up).

By far my favorite recent discovery about Peru is political in nature. Turns out that when a politician is running for office he or she adopts some sort of symbol. This symbol is on all their advertisements and also printed next to their name on the ballot. This is extremely helpful for people who can't read, but can recognize the symbol of their candidate. Now, often these symbols often have absolutely nothing to do with politics. For example, there is the guy whose symbol is a shovel, or the one whose symbol is a loaf of bread in front of a mountain, or three stick figures holding hands, or a llama, or a hat, or my personal favorite a chicken kicking a soccer ball. I mean, you can't really fault the guy - Peruvians do love chicken and soccer, so why not combine them for political advantage?

Market in Arequipa. Anyone else find it somewhat disturbing to have dolls perched on fruit?

Plett was delayed in getting to Arequipa so I took a day trip to Mollendo, a beach town. It was plenty warm, but full summer season hasn't started yet so the beach was nearly deserted.

Standing at the top of the canyon outside Cabanaconde. That green spot down there is the oasis we hiked to - 3,900 vertical feet down and back in one day's work.